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Clean sweep of Olympic sprint gold medals for Jamaica
Detroit News.Net
Thursday 21st August, 2008 (Xinhua )
Defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown won the women's 200m race on Thursday at the Beijing Olympics to complete a clean sweep of sprint gold medals for Jamaica.
Campbell-Brown clocked a personal best time of 21.74 seconds, beating two-time world champion Allyson Felix of the United States into second place in 21.93. Jamaica also won the bronze medal as Kerron Stewart posted a time of 22 seconds flat.
Jamaica dominated the sprints at the Games, with Usain Bolt taking both men's 100m and 200m in world record time and Shelley-Ann Fraser leading a Jamaican sweep of medals in women's 100m.
'They (Jamaican runners) seem to be stepping up now. That's what we are witnessing,' said Felix.
It was only the fourth time in Olympic history that a country win all the four sprint golds. Before 2008, only the United States had achieved the feat.
The United States regained pride when Lashawn Merrit led a clean sweep of medals by the U.S. in the men's 400m. Merrit finished the one-lap race in 43.75 seconds, ahead of countrymen Jeremy Wariner and David Neville.
In the absence of China's defending champion Liu Xiang, Cuban world record-holder Dayron Robles easily won the 110m hurdles in 12.93 seconds, 0.06 seconds shy of his own world record.
'I'm the champion. I'm ecstatic. It's always been my dream,' said the 21-year-old Robles.
Thanks to teenager Chen Ruolin's success on the women's 10m platform, the host nation was able to avoid a blank day.
The 16-year-old Chen trailed Canadian Emilie Heymans by over seven points before her last dive, but held her nerves to earn four 10s on her last dive and narrowly beat Heymans. Chen's teammate Wang Xin had bronze.
'I am quite satisfied with my dives today. I got a little nervous before the last dive, but I felt easy after entering the water,' said Chen.
Earlier, Wang Jie and Tian Jia went closer to capturing China's first-ever Olympic gold medal in beach volleyball. The duo were beaten 21-18, 21-18 by Americans May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in the women's final.
'We've already created history in Chinese beach volleyball. The most important thing is to continue narrowing the gap between us and stronger teams,' said Wang Jie.
Xue Chen and Zhang Xi defeated Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil 21-19, 21-17 to add a bronze medal for China.
Russia's Andrey Moiseev became the second man to successfully defend Olympic title in modern pentathlon, while local favorite Qian Zhenhua just missed out on a podium finish.
Moiseev produced consistent performance in all five events to match the achievement of Lars Hall of Sweden.
Qian had the silver medal in his sights at the start of the run, but he was passed by the Lithuanian pair of Edvinas Krungolcas and Andrejus Zadneprovskis and had to settle for fourth, though it was already the best performance by a Chinese in the sport.
Japan put an end to U.S. streak of winning every softball gold medal since 1996, beating the Americans 3-1 in the final. What made Japan's win more meaning was that softball, together with baseball, will be dropped at the 2012 Games in London.
But the American women's soccer team successfully defended their Olympic title when Carli Llody scored in the sixth minute of extra time to hand them 1-0 victory over Brazil in the final. World champions Germany downed Japan 2-0 in the bronze medal clash.
In women's volleyball, the United States reached their first final in 24 years with a straight-set victory over three-time Olympic champions Cuba, while hard-hitting Brazil overwhelmed defending champions China 3-0 to advance.
The Americans, coached by Chinese legend Lang Ping, needed just 67 minutes to beat Cuba 25-20, 25-16, 25-17.
'I thought the game would be more difficult. Previously, we've never played less than three sets,' said Lang, who helped China defeat the U.S. in the final at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angelos.
'I think the players did a fantastic job; sitting on the bench I didn't have any worries.'
Cheered on by the home crowd at the Capital Gymnasium, China took an early 12-9 lead in the first set and went up 25-24, but Brazil scored the next three points to win it.
The Chinese could not find answer to the South Americans' powerful spikes, surrendering the following two sets at 25-22, 25-14.
Brazil, ranked No. one in the world, has yet to drop a single set in its seven matches in Beijing.
In women's basketball, China also tumbled in the semifinals, losing 90-56 to Australia. In the gold medal game on Saturday, Australia will meet defending champions the United States who beat Russia 67-52 in the other semifinal.
At the end of Day 13, China topped the medal standings with 46 golds, followed by the United States on 29 and Britain on 17.
The semifinals and finals of the women's and men's BMX biking events were postponed until Friday.
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